Your Gift of Hope Can Transform a Child’s Future This Christmas

A combination of conflict, climate change, and economic instability continues to drive global hunger, with 181 million children under the age of five living in severe food poverty. We are determined to reach the most vulnerable children and believe that providing a daily meal at a place of education not only alleviates immediate hunger but also gives the children hope of a better future.

In this article, Mohamad, Georgina, and Efigénia talk about how Mary’s Meals gives them hope and why hope is important for their family and communities.

Hope Helps Me Not to Give Up

Twelve-year-old Mohamad lives in Batroun, Lebanon, where he attends school at the Tabitha Community Center. Life at home is often difficult for Mohamad and his family. “My parents sometimes don’t have enough money to buy healthy food,” he explained. On some mornings, he arrives at school without breakfast and shared, “When that happens, it is hard for me to sit in the homework support class because my stomach hurts and I feel too tired to think.”

The daily meals provided by Mary’s Meals through our local partner Dorcas have changed this reality for Mohamad. “When I know that I will eat at the community center, I feel safe and happy. I have more energy to play with my friends and to answer questions in class. I don’t have to sit and wonder when I will eat again,” he said.

Mary’s Meals’ school feeding program is a source of hope for Mohamad. It inspires him to keep studying and think about his future. “When I eat, I feel stronger, and when I feel stronger, I dream about my future. I start to think that maybe I can be a teacher or a doctor one day. Mary’s Meals gives me the strength to keep going to school and to believe in myself,” he said.

Hope gives Mohamad and his family the strength to keep moving forward. “I want to be someone who can help my family and other children who are facing the same problems I have now. My biggest hope is that I can change my life and make a difference in my community,” he explained.

I Hope for Something Good in the Future

At just seven years old, Georgina is already dreaming of a brighter future. A third-grade student at Queen of Peace Catholic School in Liberia, she faces many of the same challenges as other children in her community. “Sometimes we don’t have food or school supplies, and this makes learning harder,” she explained.

For Georgina, the daily meals provided by Mary’s Meals make a huge difference. “It makes us feel good and ready for a good night,” she said. Having a meal at school not only eases her hunger but also allows her to focus in class and enjoy learning with her friends.

She described how the Mary’s Meals school feeding program brings hope – not just to her, but to all the children in her school. “It gives me hope by learning and doing good things for my parents,” she explains. For Georgina, hope means believing that education will bring opportunities and help her family work towards a better future. She dreams of becoming a doctor one day, helping others while building a good life for herself and her community.

Hope Makes Me Want to Come to School

Twelve-year-old Efigénia attends Tindzawene Primary School in Mozambique’s Mabalane District. Like many children in her community, Efigénia faces serious challenges at home, especially the lack of food. “It’s hard to learn when I’m hungry,” she explained, describing how hunger makes concentrating in class nearly impossible.

The introduction of daily meals at school has brought a positive change to her life. “With school meals, I feel good because even with a lack of food at home, here at school I have a meal and I can study,” she said. This simple but powerful support has strengthened her motivation to attend school and learn. It also inspires her classmates. “Once they have a meal, everyone wants to learn,” she explained.

For Efigénia, receiving Mary’s Meals is a great source of hope. She believes that with reliable meals at school, she has the chance to grow up healthy and achieve her dream of becoming a teacher. It also reassures her family that education will open doors to opportunities and a brighter future. She shared, “Hope is important for my family because they know that in the future, they will have children who have studied and can have jobs that will help me and them.”